The E H Lester Logging Company was in business in the Montesano area from ca. 1910 to 1919, when it was merged into the Saginaw Timber Company. The E.H. Lester Logging Company had a two-mile logging railroad.

Montesano, the county seat of Grays Harbor County, is eight miles east of Aberdeen on the Chehalis River near the mouth of Wynooche River in central Grays Harbor County. In 1862, the name Mount Zion was suggested by the wife of the first settler, J. L. Scammon. Another pioneer, Samuel James, suggested the present name from the Spanish monte or mountain, and sano or health. Local authorities thought Sam's name had more meaning.

The North River rises in the northeast corner of Pacific County and flows west through Grays Harbor and Pacific counties to Shoalwater Bay on Willapa Harbor. The Indian name was Nic-o-man-chie, meaning Shadowy waters. In surveyor James Tilton's map of Washington Territory, published in 1859, the stream is designated as North Channel. In the following years, the name was altered to the present form.

A log dump is a section of water where logs are sorted. Logs are easier to sort in the water because they can be pushed around. Generally, they're shipped to a mill from there, via booms hauled by tug boats. Sorting is done according to grade, species, etc.